What is a Trauma Informed Parent?

At the age of 5, “Lauren’s” son survived a traumatizing car crash that left him both physically and emotionally scarred. Ten years later, Lauren finds her son continuing to grapple with the emotional residue. He is prone to severe anxiety, prolonged loss of concentration and depression. After a visit to the dentist for a minor toothache, Lauren’s son was sent home with a prescription for Vicodin, a powerful narcotic pain reliever with an extremely high risk for abuse. Lauren stepped in to inform the dentist of her son’s trauma history. Victims of trauma or adverse childhood experiences, particularly teenagers whose brains are not fully developed, are at high risk for substance abuse; a correlation too few medical professionals inquire about when prescribing painkillers. Lauren informed the dentist of her son’s history and asked that something less addictive or over the counter be offered instead.

This is being a trauma informed parent.

A Trauma Informed Parent:

Understands that an event does not have to be catastrophic in order to be “traumatic” and that symptoms of trauma can manifest following any highly stressful experience that causes lasting emotional or physical effects.

Is better equipped to help their child cope with and rise above trauma related health issues or post-traumatic stress

Appreciates their children’s unique temperaments recognizing that while a divorce to one child may be a bump in the road, to another it can be devastating.

Informed

Open-Minded

Empowered

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This site does not offer medical or therapeutic advice. My schooling and background is in education, specifically parent and child development. As an educator and trauma informed parent I can offer:

Awareness

Awareness of the many ways, both physical and psychological, trauma can manifest in a body. Certain aches, pains and illnesses are often the body’s way of signaling an excess of stored trauma.

ACES Score

An opportunity to learn your and your child’s ACES score and what, if necessary, to do with the information.

Personal Stories

A peek at the personal stories of other parents and an opportunity to ask questions, share experiences and become connected to other trauma informed parents and/or trauma experts worldwide.

Information

Timely, reliable and accessible resources.

“High stress affects the part of the brain responsible for judgement, memory, reasoning and problem solving.”

Nadine Burke Harris

“Dance has a transformative effect on bodily trauma”

Eve Ensler

“Just like children emotions heal when they are heard and validated.”

Jill Bolte Taylor

“Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.”

Mary Oliver

“The more healthy relationships a child has, the more likely he will be to recover from trauma and thrive.”

Dr. Bruce Perry

“Trauma remains a much larger public health issue, arguably the greatest threat to our national well being.”

Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk

“Traumatic events, by definition, overwhelm our ability to cope. When the mind becomes flooded with emotion, a circuit breaker is thrown that allows us to survive the experience fairly intact, that is, without becoming psychotic or frying out one of the brain centers. The cost of this blown circuit is emotion frozen within the body....

Susan Pease Banitt

“Recognizing how totally ignorant you are is the only honest way to deal with people who’ve been through something traumatic.”

Banana Yoshimoto

“The results of any traumatic experience, such as abuse, can only be resolved by experiencing, articulating, and judging every facet of the original experience within a process of careful therapeutic disclosure.”

Alice Miller

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Trauma Informed Parent exists to offer parents up to date resources and perspective on the impact trauma and adverse experiences have on their children’s social, emotional, physical and academic health as well as to provide information on how to effectively help their children heal and grow.